What certification covers
A certificate is a statement about a specific build of a specific title, made against a written specification, for a specific market. Knowing what is inside that statement — and what is outside it — is what makes the certificate useful.
Four things a certificate is about
| Item | The question answered |
|---|---|
| The random process | Does the mechanism that decides outcomes produce results that cannot be predicted from earlier results? |
| The paytable arithmetic | Do the published pays and probabilities produce the return the specification claims? |
| The build itself | Is the software that will be delivered the software that was tested, and can the delivered version be checked against it? |
| The market\u2019s requirements | Does the build meet the local rules on display, stakes, limits and information? |
Per build, not per name
The single most useful thing to understand about certification is its unit: the build. A title is a name; a build is a version of it. When a supplier changes the maths or adds a feature that changes outcomes, the artefact changes, and a statement about the previous artefact no longer describes the new one.
- A build is submitted
A specific version, with a written specification of how it behaves and what it returns.
- The laboratory examines it
The random process is tested and the arithmetic is recomputed against the specification.
- The build is certified for a market
The certificate belongs to that build, in that jurisdiction, under that market\u2019s rules.
- The build is delivered
Distribution platforms deliver the certified build, and the operator offers it in its lobby.
- A new version starts the cycle again
Any change that affects outcomes creates a new build, which needs its own examination before it is offered.
This is why the phrase “the game is audited” is not a complete answer to anything. The useful question is which build, examined against what, for which market — and the help panel is where the build identifies itself.
What a certificate cannot do
It is worth being precise, because the limits are where readers get misled.
it is about the long-run arithmetic, not about your session: £1,000 staked at 96% returns £960 in expectation, with an enormous spread over any short run
it is about compliance with a specification, not about whether a game is enjoyable, suitable or affordable for you
it is about a market, not about every market: the same studio may run different builds and different configurations in different regulated territories
None of that is a criticism of certification. It is what certification is for: a narrow, checkable statement about one artefact, which is exactly why it is worth more than a general claim that a game is “fair”.
Disclosed sponsored link, and the only commercial element on this page. No laboratory, studio, regulator or operator is named, and nothing here says any particular game or offer is available to you.
Open the partner accountWhere to go next
- Who makes them — the supplier licences that sit alongside certification.
- The figure in the help panel — the specification a build is certified against.
- Same name, new build — how a rebuild restarts the process.
- The record — the build identifier that makes a certificate relevant to a dispute.